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Thanks for visiting! This blog began in 2009 to keep in touch with family/friends while I worked in Madagascar, finally repatriating in 2014. Would you believe me if I told you that my Canadian life has been crazier than that of the jungle life? Going into the 5th year in Canada, and Africa is calling me again. Who knows what will happen.

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I think I wrote earlier this week that I was PETRIFIED because I was meeting a stylist from Quebec City (about 2.5-3 hours drive from where I live and also where most of Louis' family lives). I have no idea what's cool and what's not. I'm also six feet tall but not into plus sizes, so a lot of the blouses and fun stuff end up looking like this on me.
Ok. Maybe not quite. More like this:
Except I'm a little more feminin.

Anyways, I have problems shopping unless I'm in a clothing store for tall people, but those stores kinda suck, so I was all nervous.

I met my stylist at a coffee shop in a quiet, nice mall and she was AWESOME. I showed up at the mall practically in tears because I was SO FREAKING NERVOUS. I didn't think anything would fit me properly and I need to look "Montreal Chique", and I tend to look "Camping Chique" or "Lost Teenager Chique" and I have no idea about style. Well, it turns out that I have a perfect typed bo…

So things are starting to be even more official and the reality of having a job and entering the working world is really starting to set in. I spoke with my boss on the phone yesterday and it almost sounded as if we were both equally as excited. This is good news.

This week I'm finding myself fairly anxious. One of the reasons is that I went off the 21 Day Fix eating plan and started eating all kinds of sugar and processed food. I knew this would happen, I wanted to have some treats here and there, but the more that I ate, the more that I felt like, until Sunday when we all went out for breakfast to celebrate my new job, and I came home and slept for two hours and just felt like total crap. I decided that on Monday I'm back on the clean eating train because it just makes me feel like total crap. But now I have to detox a little, which generally means a little anxiety and a headache for a couple of days. Amazing what good food can do for your entire body and what processed (yum…

I`m not posting Before/After pictures because I`m not ready for that yet, but the news is good news! By following the 21 Day Fix Program (click link), I`ve lost 8.5lbs and 3.75 inches! If you watch the promo videos for ``the fix``, they stupid shit like, `Give me 21 days and I`ll give you the body you always wanted!!!` which is ridiculous...`cause I want to lose 40lbs...and that`s not going to happen in 21 days. Or weeks. But the program is awesome. Have I said that a million times before? Well, it's cause it's awesome. It's so simple to follow and it's REAL LIFE EATING. No powders, no pills, no fasting, no nothing. Good food in and 30 minutes of exercise a day, and VOILA! Magic - you lose weight. But let's face it, not everyone can just lose weight on their own (like ME!) and they need some guidance, and for me, this was the guidance that I needed.

I really liked that I could basically eat whatever I wanted, as long as it was a whole food. What's a whole food?

When Louis and I decided to move back to Quebec together, we had some pretty specific plans. We had our ideas of what would happen when and we were both pretty excited...Well, I was a bit hesitant at first, but once the shock wore off, I was pretty excited.

And then absolutely nothing happened as planned and everything (ok, almost everything) completely derailed. It was if almost every obstacle in the book got in our way. As much as we've tried to keep things positive and future focused these last six months, man, it's been tough. We took one step forward and ten backward.

As hard as it's been, I'm thankful that we went through this together. Its tested our commitment and strength, and we've both been far from perfect, but it has also shown us both how committed and strong we are. Funny how life works, right?

Well, I think we've really got our first real break. After searching and coming up with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for nearly five months, I found not one, but TW…

Overall the program is still going awesome, except the last 3 days have been incredibly hectic and I haven't had a chance to eat everything that I'm supposed to. I know that this can screw me over in the end if I don't fuel properly...so I'm going to get on that tomorrow. But wait - did I just say I'm not eating ENOUGH? For months I've been struggling with this medication I've been on that has increased my appetite an incredible amount...and now since I've been fueling my body properly...I'm having to make sure I eat ENOUGH.

The workouts still suck. They are hard. But, I'm getting used to having to work hard...and let's face it, it's only 30 minutes max...so really...anything can be done in 30 minutes.

So back to the scale. It was at night, I had already eaten a meal, drank tons of water...so imagine my surprise when I see that I'm down SEVEN pounds. That's …

I'm on day 10 of the 21 Day Fix program and am lovvvvviiing it. Although the program allows for "cheats", nothing's really tempted me.

Last night we went out with friends for a drink & I had a "cheat" of a glass of bubbly. Today we went out for breakfast and I had a "cheat" of a few homefries and I went over the last two days by a PEICE OF FRUIT. I'm not terribly upset about that!

I'm not sure if this program kinda works like a detox of sorts...because I am a total junk food addict that tries to keep things in check, but I think I've had one craving the entire time and that's when I went grocery shopping when I was hungry.

I eat one or two squares of dark chocolate every few days (this is a cheat but the jury is out on how this is counted. I figure it's ONE square of chocolate so I don't really concern myself).

The workouts are still really kicking my ass, but I'm finding myself mood open to having my ass kicked. I …

I recently wrote that I was joining/ordering a program from Beach Body called the 21 Day Fix.

In the last year or so, I've gained some weight and been having trouble losing it for a variety of reasons. I'm pretty hard core at the gym...I have a program designed by a trainer and I'm never one to slack on the gym. I like to work out and I like being in shape. Even though I'm overweight, I'm still in really good physical shape...and it kind of drove me crazy. The reason why I'm overweight in spite of my workouts? My diet. I don't mean like, diet like, the "cabbage soup" diet or something like that, I mean, the amount of food that I eat and the food choices that I make.

I live with a guy and two teenagers. If it were just me, I wouldn't have some of the crap that we have in our house, but it's not. Also, I think that Chex Mix (only available in the US) and chocolate are the best things in the entire world. And then there's muffins and flav…

Urgh. Things just aren't going our way lately. Louis' computer is on the fritz...it takes ten minutes to open any window. My computer died, but luckily Stepdaughter #2 saved my old computer and I can use it for now...although it's very old and I can't open a lot of pages until I do some software updates...scratch that - until I get Louis to do some software updates. Louis' hobby car needs like...a gazillion dollars of repair work. His driving season is officially over..and I hope things go better next summer. Neither of us can seem to find a job. We both get comments how great and wonderful our experience is...followed by comments like, But the market is slow.... Urgh. Us not having jobs is a pretty big stress right now. Obviously, the financial component is important...but even more important right now is that we need something rewarding, something that brings routine into our lives, and something that gets us into "real life" mode, not this...half assed…